Air
by ScooterJLM
Summary: Finally making it through The City in the Sky, Link is suddenly confronted by an amoured dragon, eager for an easy meal. Rated T for blood and mild language.


**Hey peoples what's going on, I'm ScooterJLM and I'm here with another one of my generic introductions and a LoZ one-shot. This thing is a whopper of a story, 3,739 words!**** I've detailed the boss battle in Sky City between Link and the Twilit Dragon Argorok (with a few things I added). I don't really like Argorok's name, so I had Link call it a name I made up (he wouldn't know its name anyway so...). :P This is my favourite boss battle in the Zelda games (other than Demise in SS) 'cause it's epic. Please correct any details I got wrong and note this Fanfic has a few swears so watch out. Excuse the kinda lame title.**

**P.S. Special shout-out to authors The Wolfess and ZeldaRubix for inspiring me to write Fanfictions and The Yogscast and Campbell's chicken noodle soup for keeping me cheerful/well fed between writing sessions. Enough rambling. Enjoy and R&R.**

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**Air**

_by ScooterJLM_

"Woah," Link said simply as he climbed up onto the platform, wind gusting.

Link had seen some amazing things but this was crazy. He stood on a gigantic floating platform that had four massive towers on each corner. Curious, Link jogged over to one and saw that it was covered in netting. Straining to see the tower across the platform he noticed it was also covered in the netting. Link briskly walked over to the center of the large expanse, wind periodically pushing him back, and looked around but saw nothing. _Great, _Link thought, _another dead-end._

He sighed and started to leave when an ear-splitting screech caused him to stop and clamp his hands over his pointy ears. Looking around wildly Link saw nothing, but then he saw a faint shadow on the ground that was steadily growing darker. Instinctively Link tilted his head and saw a large black figure was dropping quickly from the sky! Link's eyes widened as he turned and ran as fast as he could. Link jumped forward and landed roughly on his chest, praying to the goddesses that he had cleared the shadow cast by the immense figure.

Behind him Link heard (and felt) the massive object crash into the ground, sending dust and dirt flying in all directions. Link got to his feet and brushed the dirt away from his tunic and then readjusted his windsock-like cap. Steeling himself, Link slowly turned around to see what had fallen from the sky. His heart pounded wildly inside his chest and with wide eyes he looked at what was in front of him.

"Holy crap," Link said astonished at the sight in front of him.

Midna came out from his shadow and said wide-eyed as well, "Holy crap is right," she then took on a panicked face and said, "Okay good luck with this one," and with a smile and a nervous laugh she returned to his shadow.

Link rolled his eyes, realizing that he was truly on his own, and returned his focus back to the thing in front of him. It was a massive creature with gigantic wings curled up to its body, it had a large beak and its body was covered in intricate black armor. The creature gave out another ear-splitting screech right in his face. Link raised his arm to cover his eyes from the large amount of spit that came flying out of its mouth, accompanied by a nostril burning stench that smelled of rotting corpses. It took all Link had not to gag on its foul breath. The creature pulled back its head and unfurled its wings which looked like they could cast a shadow over half of Castle Town. From its mouth came a massive column of flame that shot up into the air. _That's new, _Link thought bitterly. The creature took to the air, sending large gusts of wind which buffeted Link harshly.

A large thunder-clap shot through the air accompanied by a flash of lightning from the dark storm clouds that had gathered over head. _Hopefully it won't rain, _Link thought while unsheathing the Master Sword with a metallic hiss. Then as if the dark clouds heard his thoughts it started pouring. In seconds the icy rain, soaked Link down to the bone making him shiver uncontrollably. Another screech brought Link back to his current predicament. Seeing the flying creature yards above him Link sheathed the Master Sword knowing it wouldn't do any good now. He stood there contemplating the creature, trying to find a weakness that he could exploit.

Another clap of thunder shook the air, the lightning flashing dangerously close. Link noticed the creature kept circling the platform, as if waiting for him to make the first move. _Okay I can do this, _Link thought prepping himself. _First of all I need to gain some altitude so I can fight this thing on level ground. But how...?_ Suddenly remembering the netting on the tall towers, Link sprinted through the cold rain towards the closest tower and, adrenaline pumping through his veins he ran up the side a few feet and grabbed onto the wet rope. Slipping and sliding on the rope, Link slowly started to climb up the tower. Then a large gust of wind threw itself at Link making him slip and start to hang on by one hand. While struggling to regain his footing on the slick rope, another gust of wind made him lose his handhold and sent him plummeting to the ground.

Link landed in a heap at the base of the tower. His eyes shut in pain, Link praised the goddesses that it was a short fall and that he didn't break anything. Through the rumble of thunder and pouring rain, the creature let out a shriek that sounded almost like a laugh. _Damn bird, _Link thought sourly. Picking himself off the ground Link had another thought, _Okay this is crazy! I can't hold on up there so how do I get up? _Link racked his mind for an answer, knowing that it probably had something to do with the item he found earlier. What was it...?

Link smiled and un-hooked the Clawshots he had attached to his belt, wondering how he had forgotten the useful things. Putting them on Link hoped that his plan would work. He inhaled the cold air and raised his hand, aiming for the tower he had fallen off from. He squeezed the trigger inside the gauntlet and the claw went flying through the air, the chain wrapped around his hand unraveling quickly. Link timed his jump to when the chain started reeling him in and he went soaring towards the tower. Link let out a small 'oof' as he slammed into the tower. More wind tried to knock him off but his Clawshot firmly held. Link squinted his eyes against the rain and the wind slapping his face and wondered how he was going to get higher.

Link scanned the distance between the other towers, hoping they were close enough but found they were way too far away. Link looked over to the flying creature circling the platform and decided to call it 'Longwing'. Seemed fitting enough. Longwing flew close to him and Link noticed its tail. It was barbed and golden, looked like it was part of its armor. Link's warrior mind quickly started forming a plan to beat the crap out of Longwing. As it flew close again Link aimed his left Clawshot at the tail and squeezed the trigger. A miss, it went too far to the right. Cursing himself he waited until Longwing flew closer again, but this time he was going to fire where he was going to be not where he was.

Taking in a deep breath Link fired his left Clawshot and released the claw holding him to the tower and, for a few moments, Link was falling. Then it felt like he almost dislocated his shoulder from the sudden pull, as he swung from Longwing's tail. _Okay Link what now? _Link thought sarcastically. _Well, I can't fight it in the air like this. I have to force it down somehow, _Link thought, puzzled. Then out of nowhere it hit him. Iron Boots! Midna had taught him a spell to replace his boots (and summon his items) with the iron ones he had gotten. All he had to do was concentrate and snap his fingers, but seeing as his hands had Clawshots on them he needed Midna.

"MIDNA!" Link yelled over the storm. Now that he was higher the storm had gotten even worse. "MIDNA!" he yelled again. "IRON BOOTS!" Midna materialized beside him and Link yelled again, "IRON BOOTS!" Midna snapped her fingers and his feet suddenly became extremely heavy, then she was gone again.

Longwing screeched as Link pulled him down to the ground and just before they hit, he released the Clawshot holding him to its tail and attached himself to a nearby tower. Link watched from his tower as Longwing flapped and tried to keep flying but the weight of him and his Iron Boots had thrown him off-balance and was forcing him down. Link quickly jumped down and re-attached his Clawshots to his belt, then snapped his fingers and Link's feet went from feeling cold iron to soft leather. Link sprinted toward Longwing who was laying in a crumpled heap in the center of the platform, and saw that some of its armor on its back must have cracked off when he hit the ground. Link slowed to a jog when he saw the large pulsating, pink circular mark on its back.

Link walked over to Longwing and unsheathed the Master Sword and raised it high above his head. Then brought it down, hard, slashing across the squishy pink flesh, spraying his boots with dark green blood. Link went to take the Master Sword back, but it was firmly embedded in its flesh. Longwing let out an agonized wail and flapped away, ripping the Master Sword from his grip. Link cursed himself for not slashing the damn creature sooner than when he did. Link once again sprinted through the rain towards the closest tower and put on his Clawshots. Link was about to let fly with a claw but much to his surprise a towering wall of fire sprang up between him and the tower. Link jumped back in surprise and looked to his right seeing Longwing spitting out the flames. Suddenly a red-hot pain erupted on his arm, his arm was on fire!

Link quickly patted out the flame but the chain mail on his arm was boiling hotly under his tunic. "AH! Damnit!" Link screamed. Thinking quick, Link rolled up his sleeve and let the freezing rain cool off his chain mail. Steam rose from his arm as he sighed in relief.

While Link had put out the fire on his arm the rain had put out most of larger one in front of him and his path was clear. Despite the mostly clear path, Link let his anger get the best of him. He narrowed his eyes at Longwing and snapped his fingers feeling the Hero's Bow appear in his hand with a bomb arrow in his other. Link fitted the arrow and barely heard the 'twang' of the bowstring over the clamor of the storm as he let the arrow fly and took satisfaction from the explosion and the smoke that engulfed Longwing's head, and even more the painful shriek he got in response.

Longwing screeched again but instead of retaliating he backed off and started circling the platform again. Still cautious of Longwing's infernos, he would shoot the creature glances as he made his way through the rain towards the tower. Link put on his Clawshots and flew up towards the towers top and repeated the process of dragging it down. Once down from the tower he Clawshotted to, Link sprinted to Longwing's body and found more armor had cracked and fell off. Link quickly tore the Master Sword from its pink flesh covered in its blood and slashed at it again, this time having the sense to withdraw the Master Sword from its weak point and back away.

Longwing wailed painfully and flew back to the sky and Link sheathed the Master Sword and ran as fast as he could towards the nearest tower, not wanting to give it the time to burn him alive. Link once again brought down Longwing and this time all of its armor fell to the ground and turned to dark fire, disappearing before his eyes. The body underneath the unique armor was pale, almost yellow and its scales were almost like the netting on the towers...

Pushing that thought away Link slashed with all his might at its back, satisfied at the massive screech of pain he elicited from it. _That should do it, _Link thought triumphantly. _Thanks to the magic rule of three._

But to Link's horror Longwing didn't disappear in dark fire. It got back up and gave an almighty scream, its mouth exploding with a fiery inferno making even Link, who was a distance away, feel the heat of its breath. Longwing turned on him its eyes glowing red with pure hatred as its mouth exploded again sending its fiery blazes towards him. Link raised his shield in time to block the inferno and was grateful he was wearing gauntlets and gloves because without them his skin would probably melt but he still he felt as though someone was pressing a white-hot poker to his arm. Barely containing a scream of pain Link dived to the left, relieved that he had escaped the fire. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed as Longwing took to the air, breathing more fire as he did so. Link was about to Clawshot up to the tower but something was wiggling under his boot...

Link stepped back and to his surprise a Peahat popped out! When Link looked around the platform, more were coming out forming a circle around the middle of the platform. Remembering the earlier puzzles from the Sky City, Link took out his Clawshots and aimed for the flying plants. Link let fly with a claw and watched as it sunk into the roots of the plant. Once up in the air Link saw Longwing hovering in the air staring at him its mouth open. Panicked, Link thought, _Oh shit. _Thinking quickly Link immediately turned on the chain, aimed for the Peahat next to him, fired, and released the claw holding onto the Peahat he was hanging from.

Feeling the blazing heat on his back, Link quickly picked up the pace of going around the Peahat's until Lonwing stopped breathing fire. Link continued his circuit around Longwing until he was behind him. Suddenly Link remembered the scales of its skin that looked like the tower netting and Link took in a deep breath, praying to the goddesses that it would work.

Link aimed for Longwing's back and fired and released at the same time and he went zipping through the air then landed on its back. Link quickly wrapped his legs around its torso as best he could as Longwing screamed in frustration. Immediately unsheathing the Master Sword, Link began slashing savagely at its weak point while Longwing screamed in pain and began plummeting towards the ground. Having no time to Clawshot to a tower or a Peahat, Link dived off its back and landed roughly but probably not as rough a landing as Longwing. Quickly shaking off the pain, Link got to his feet and Clawshotted back up to a Peahat and repeated the process of dodging flames in mid-air while in a down pour of freezing rain. _Huh. When you think of it that wa_y _it sounds pretty epic, _Link thought with a slight smile.

Jumping back down from Longwing for the second time, Link backfliped out-of-the-way of more blazing infernos as they were thrown his way. Thunder assaulted his ears and lightning exploded around the platform, throwing white light over the large expanse. _Okay this is heating up I need to finish this now!_

Link sprinted until he was near enough to a Peahat to latch onto and flew up as the Clawshot reeled him in. Longwing started breathing fire as he did before and Link easily swung from Peahat to Peahat, dodging his flames. Link was about to go to another Peahat but just as he was about to squeeze the trigger a floating wall of flames appeared in between him and the next flying plant. _Holy crap!_ Link thought as he quickly changed the direction of his Clawshotting. Feeling the flames singe the back of tunic, Link picked up the pace but when he stopped feeling the heat on his back he realized what Longwing was doing. Smiling Link changed direction again and thought, _How about that you beak-faced bastard._

Link quickly stopped as he saw Longwing's back and he zipped over to it. Keeping his Clawshot attached Link hooked it onto his belt and stood up on its back. Link unsheathed the Master Sword and raised it high above his head. _Time to finish this. _And he did.

Link sunk the Master Sword right down to the hilt, splattering him with thick dark green blood and twisted it. Longwing's mouth opened in a half scream half inferno blast. Just before they hit the ground, Link went to jump off but found he couldn't. Frantically Link looked down and saw his Clawshot still attached! Link fumbled with the release trigger but it was too late. Longwing flipped over in the air and Link watched as the ground came up to greet him. _OH CRAP! _Impact.

White hot pain erupted on his legs as Longwing lay dead on top of him. Link pressed the release trigger on his attached Clawshot and it sprang back into the gauntlet. Letting out a yell of pain, Link frantically tried to push the carcass from him but to no avail. Taking deep gasps of air Link flopped back onto the ground, mind racing with possible ideas of escape. _...No no bombs wouldn't work. What about... No that wouldn't work either. Damn this hurts!_ Link thought, eyes pressed closed in pain.

Mentally, Link went through every item he had in his head, until he stopped at the Gale Boomerang. Link snapped his fingers and the mystical boomerang appeared in his hand, its feathers tickling his hand. Concentrating, Link put all his remaining energy into the boomerang causing all the wind in the area to swirl around it and considering he was in a thunder-storm in the sky, there was a lot of wind power. Link sat back up, boomerang in hand and pressed it against Longwing's body and pushed as hard as he possibly could and to his surprise it sent Longwing's body flying. Link watched, relieved, as it turned to dark fire in mid-air leaving behind an object on the ground.

Exhausted, soaked to the bone and splattered in mud, Link slowly got to his feet. He noticed it had stopped raining and puffy white clouds had replaced the dark angry ones. Wincing at the pressure being put on his legs, Link half walked, half limped over to the Mirror Shard and watched as Midna came out from his shadow.

Completely ignoring Link, he watched as a smile crept across Midna's mouth while she floated over to the Mirror Shard and picked it up with her flaming orange hair. Midna snapped her fingers and the Shard disappeared, leaving a few sparks in the air that soon evaporated.

"Finally, I did it," Midna said grinning her wicked grin.

Behind her, Link cleared his throat audibly causing her to turn around and smile weakly.

"Oh, um... I guess you helped too Link," after her words an awkward silence hung in the air as Link looked at her, eyebrows raised. Finally she broke the heavy silence.

"Okay then. I guess we should get a move on," Midna turned and floated over to the middle of the platform and opened a blue warp portal on the ground. Midna waved him over with her orange pony-tail.

Link rolled his eyes and walked over to her and as he was about to step into the portal when Midna's arm shot out and pushed him back.

"Link wait. You're forgetting something," Midna said, pointing to something behind him. Following her finger, Link's eyes rested on a small red and gold, heart-shaped object lying below the spot of air where Longwing's body turned to dark fire.

Link walked over to it and bent down to pick it up. As soon as his skin made contact with the magical object, he felt a warm tingling sensation in his hand and it soon spread throughout his whole body. Link closed his eyes as all the exhaustion, pain, mud, rain, rips, tears, burn marks and gore that he had gotten from Longwing, the weather and himself, left him. Link felt great, as if he had gotten considerably stronger while he had contact with the object. Opening his eyes, Link found himself full of energy, his tunic dry and free of mud, tears, burn marks and Longwing's dark green blood._ Man, I love these things, _Link thought happily.

Link looked back down at what he called the 'Healer' and found that, like the other ones he had picked up, had lost its glow and had gone dull. _Useful things, but they're useless after, _Link thought, snapping his fingers to make it disappear.

Link walked back over to Midna where she floated, waiting. "C'mon Midna. Lets get out of here," he said flashing her a smirk, then stepped into the warp portal.

Link felt the strange feeling of warping, as his body de-materialized into Twilight Energy and started to rise. _So long, Longwing. Have fun in hell._

La Fin.

(For you non-frenchies out there, La Fin means The End. :P)

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**Hope you liked it, remember to leave a review. Until next time.**

**-ScooterJLM**


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